# WKRP:Johnny vs. the smoking nazis **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 12, 1999, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290 "1999-12-12T14:07:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/21 "2003-03-14T15:52:55Z")
Since this is about television, I’ll move this thread to Cafe Society. bibliophage moderator GQ ---
**Author:** ![Isaac\_Cashman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a9a28c/32.png) [@Isaac\_Cashman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isaac_Cashman)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/22 "2003-03-14T18:36:12Z")
Well there was a “News Radio” which centered on the city dictat of a No Somoking office. ---
**Author:** ![Foolonthehill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Foolonthehill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foolonthehill)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/23 "2003-03-14T18:51:00Z")
Having grown up in the 50’s; everybody smoked. I was in a commercial for Kent cigarettes, (for TV), when I was 12 yrs. old. I wasn’t smoking in it; me and a friend were kids on a merry-go-round, as a young handsome couple enjoyed a local Fair, while smoking Kents. Every TV show had smokers. Everybodys house had the smoking lamp lit, even folks who did not smoke. We smoked as teenagers at Church. Different era. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/24 "2003-03-14T19:47:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by psifireus \* > \*\* > > Anyway, I have a few tapes of old episodes, I’ll check it out. > > WKRP is my favorite show of all time! \*\* If you have a tape of the one with the “Godless Tornados” watch it for me. That’s the episode I remember best. WKRP was an incredible show. Wish it was in syndication around here… ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/25 "2003-03-14T19:54:01Z")
Actually, I remember some scenes from _Kojak_ wherein Telly Savalas would switch from cigarette to lollipop depending on who he was talking to (e.g., he’d interrogate a suspect while smoking a cigarette, then go back to his office, unwrap a Tootsie-Pop, and smooth his captain’s ruffled feathers). ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2003, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/26 "2003-03-14T20:20:56Z")
The thing I remember about Johnnie Fever was that he was always drinking coffee. Mmmm…Bailey… ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/27 "2003-03-16T05:26:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by psifireus \* > \*\*I believe there was an episode where Fever had a cigarette in hand, if not in mouth. > > It seems like it was the episode where Bailey and he went to get the pictures some sleazeball had conned Jennifer into modeling for… \*\* Nitpick: The sleazeball didn’t even “con” her into posing. He hired her to wear a very modest swimsuit for a travel ad, then took photos through a one-way mirror in her dressing room. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/28 "2003-03-16T07:11:28Z")
Andy Griffith used to smoke once in a while. I think he even rolled his own. At least I _think_ he was rolling cigarettes. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/29 "2003-03-16T07:27:31Z")
Bailey was smokin’! ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/30 "2003-03-16T15:45:40Z")
In the old “Perry Mason” shows, just about everyone smoked…but these are OLD shows. And damn, Raymond Burr was hot! Both as a young man and as an older gent. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/31 "2003-03-16T16:59:55Z")
Raymond Burr? Eh. He was no Bailey. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/32 "2003-03-16T18:22:11Z")
William B. Davis quit smoking prior to being cast on “The X-Files” so a substitute had to be used for CSM. There is no tobacco in those cigarettes. On “Match Game”, Richard Dawson sometimes had a cigarette and Charles Nelson Reilly was usually seen with a pipe. ---
**Author:** ![shempi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@shempi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shempi)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2008, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/33 "2008-04-13T14:29:45Z")
What about the king of smoking on tv - Tom Snyder of The Tomorrow Show. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2008, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/34 "2008-04-13T14:55:31Z")
[QUOTE=shempi] What about the king of smoking on tv - Tom Snyder of The Tomorrow Show. [/QUOTE] Hah! Edward R. Murrow could chain smoke Snyder under the table. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/35 "2008-04-13T15:08:00Z")
Tobacco-free herbal cigarettes are frequently used on TV, in movies, and on stage for the sake of not only the smoker but of the other cast and crew (and audience, in the case of live theater). Even a casual smoker can get a little tired of inhaling tobacco smoke take after take after take, and I’ve seen at least one non-smoker throw up after taking a few puffs for the sake of a scene - a big, burly guy too. There’s another option for theater: a fake cigarette that’s basically a plastic tube filled with talcum powder. One end is red and glittery and from several feet away looks like it’s glowing. The tricky part is remembering to blow instead of suck (shut up). One advantage is that you don’t have risk scaring away any audience members by warning them that there will be smoke during the performance. **I Love Lucy** , like many other old shows, frequently had characters light up and smoke. One famous gag involved Lucy wearing a fake nose and accidentally lighting it instead of her cigarette. A Philip Morris ad appears prominently in the background of at least one scene. (I don’t remember the episode, but Ricky and Fred were seated at a lunch counter.) Speaking of Freds, [Winston](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZvHiiWFbBU) sponsored the Flintstones. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/36 "2008-04-13T17:57:12Z")
[QUOTE=Foolonthehill] Having grown up in the 50’s; everybody smoked. I was in a commercial for Kent cigarettes, (for TV), when I was 12 yrs. old. I wasn’t smoking in it; me and a friend were kids on a merry-go-round, as a young handsome couple enjoyed a local Fair, while smoking Kents. Every TV show had smokers. Everybodys house had the smoking lamp lit, even folks who did not smoke. We smoked as teenagers at Church. Different era. [/QUOTE] We just bought an old cigarette holder and lighter combination as a decoration (we don’t smoke). These were common in the 50’s and 60’s - a little vase-like china ornament designed to hold a bunch of cigarettes, and a matching lighter. People had these on their coffee tables so they could reach out and grab a smoke at any time (as could guests). As you say, it was a different era. We bought the ornaments just to remind us of a world long gone. ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2008, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/37 "2008-04-13T18:30:50Z")
[QUOTE=Foolonthehill] Having grown up in the 50’s; everybody smoked. I was in a commercial for Kent cigarettes, (for TV), when I was 12 yrs. old. I wasn’t smoking in it; me and a friend were kids on a merry-go-round, as a young handsome couple enjoyed a local Fair, while smoking Kents. Every TV show had smokers. Everybodys house had the smoking lamp lit, even folks who did not smoke. We smoked as teenagers at Church. Different era. [/QUOTE] What’s a smoking lamp? ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/38 "2008-04-13T18:32:14Z")
[QUOTE=Qwisp] What’s a smoking lamp? [/QUOTE] [Here.](http://www.rdrop.com/~half/Personal/Gallery/LavaLamp.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/39 "2008-04-13T18:40:06Z")
I couldn’t track down the I Love Lucy episode I was thinking of (yes, I have been working on other things in the last 3 1/2 hours too), but I did find these vintage [opening titles and end credits](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYkrN1E_FWA). Wow. That’s not the way I remember them. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290/40 "2008-04-13T21:24:40Z")
[QUOTE=Qwisp] What’s a smoking lamp? [/QUOTE] Before matches were invented, the smoking lamp on a ship was the device (something like a lantern) where sailors could light their pipes. During stormy weather the smoking light would be extinguished for safety, hence the announcements “the smoking lamp is out” and “the smoking lamp is lit” which persisted in the USN right up to the point when it was extinguished permanently. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wkrp-johnny-vs-the-smoking-nazis/5290.md?page=3)